NYC's nightclubs are dead: Standard Sounds and Rose Bar Sessions lead the way for the city's hip crowd

The nightlife scene in NYC is probably never going to return to that era of velvet ropes, bottle service and snotty doormen-cum-wannabe movie stars (I am talking about you, Armin Amiri) circa 2000. Just as those huge clubs in 27th Street started sprouting up around the formerly cool Bungalow 8, the hip crowd stopped playing. Nightclubs were always cheesy, we knew that, but the mood changed and now they are all empty – or full of people from New Jersey. Same difference.

Instead, tiny venues like the much-mourned Beatrice Inn became de rigeur. With that in mind, two of the hippest spots in town recently started informal music nights. Gramercy Park Hotel's Rose Bar Sessions have hosted four impromtu concerts with Rufus Wainwright performing last week. The guest list and actual timings of these concerts is closely guarded. Last month, the hotel caused a minor sensation by having a barely recognisable Axel Rose perform (see Patrick McMullan's website for pictures).

Over at the STILL buzzing Standard Hotel, the team there launched Standard Sounds earlier this month with a performance by Diego Garcia (he was once voted one of the 50 sexiest New Yorkers by New York Magazine). Garcia is the former lead singer for a NYC band called Elefant. Lucy McIntyre, the person behind the new concert series, says we will be seeing more of him at their LA hotel, while other performers are being lined up for NYC. Snotty doormen-cum-wannabe rockstars need not apply.

'Famed West 27th Street club Cain is closing and will celebrate its last night tonight. The African-themed spot, which has hosted the likes of Lindsay Lohan, Sean "Diddy" Combs, Paris Hilton and Mariah Carey and was ground zero of the bottle-service boom, is being sold by owners Jamie Mul holland and Jayma Cardoso after five years. Mulholland told us they want to focus on their other properties: "We are concentrating on a brand-new season at the Surf Lodge and continuing to keep Goldbar shining."'